moser



Jan. 31, 1956 e. c. MOSER, JR

FILE CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 12, 1952 INVENTOR. CIfl/bszw,Jza

ATTORNEY,

Jan. 31, 1956 G. c. MOSER, JR 2,733,114

FILE CABINET Filed May 12, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN T 0R. GFOVE'F 6'. 11/0525; din,

United States Patent FILE CABINET Grover C. Moser, Jr., Berne, 1nd. Application May 12, 1952, Serial No. 287,295 3 Claims. (Cl. 312-351) The present invention relates to filing cabinets, and particularly to that type of cabinet having a series of vertically separated, horizontally extending slots, in one side thereof, for the reception of printed forms and the like which must be easily and readily accessible at all times.

In the ofiices of many businesses, as, for instance, insurance company offices, it is necessary that the many and varied printed forms, and the like, used in such businesses be stored in a readily accessible manner. There are now available on the market, for the storage of such forms, filing cabinets having horizontal slots in the face thereof into which the various forms may be placed. Difficulty arises, however, from the fact that the forms are of greatly differing lengths. All the filing cabinets known to me for such use have pockets therein of uniform depth, and while the larger forms may be conveniently stored in such pockets, the smaller forms, when placed therein, eventually become shifted to the rear of such pockets and are thereafter next to impossible to remove, thus all but nullifying the intended function of the cabinet.

The primary object of my invention is, therefore, the provision of such a filing cabinet having pockets therein of varying depths.

A further object is to provide such a cabinet in which the depth of the pockets may be readily and individually adjusted to conform to the size of the forms to be stored therein.

Another object is to provide a cabinet, of the type here'- in under consideration, which is simple, inexpensive to manufacture, and in which the pockets thereof may be readily removed and replaced after becoming soiled or when it is desired to change the depth of a particular pocket to permit the storage of forms of a cliiferent size.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a simple and convenient means for attaching and supporting the pockets in the cabinet.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cabinet of the character above described in which the pockets incline downwardly from their open front end toward their rear closed ends.

Ancillary objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section, drawn to an enlarged scale, through the median plane of the cabinet of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views similar to that of Fig. 2 but showing modified means for afiixing and supporting the pockets in the cabinet.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have shown a cabinet 10 comprising a pair of substantially parallel side walls or supporting members 11 and 12, a top 13 and a back panel 14 (see Figs. 1 and 2). The free edges of walls 11 and 12 lie in a common plane and, to gether with top 13, define an aperture 15 in cabinet 10.

Disposed in a common vertical plane adjacent the aperture 15 are a plurality of pairs 16 of rods or bars 17 spanning the walls 11 and 12, substantially normal thereto. Each rod pair 16 may be considered an element spanning the supporting members 11 and 12, and adjacent rod pairs 16 define vertically separated and horizontally extending slots 18 throughout the extent of aperture 15.

Into each slot 18 is placed a pocket member 19. Each such pocket member comprises a strip of flexible material as wide as the aperture 15 and little more than twice the length of forms to be stored in that pocket. The strip is folded intermediate its ends and turned back on itself to form a loop or bight of the original strip.

The rods 17 of each of the pairs 16 are arranged to lie substantially in longitudinal contiguity, as clearly to be seen from an inspection of Fig. 2, and are preferably formed of a material having slight resilient characteristics so that a pair of rods may be spread slightly apart while the ends are held fast. Thus, each rod pair defines a retention slit for an end of at least one pocket member 19. After a pocket 19 has been inserted between adjacent rod pairs 16, the pair nearest the end 20 is forced apart and that end is turned outwardly and inserted between the rods 17. Similarly the adjacent pair of rods is likewise forced apart and the other end 21 of the strip is turned outwardly and inserted between those rods 17. After the strip ends are thus inserted, the rods are allowed to return to their original positions, thus firmly gripping the respective strip ends to frictionally retain them between the rods.

I propose forming the pockets 19 of any kind of heavy paper, such as common wrapping paper, or the like, though other flexible, strip materials, such as cloth, sheet plastics, foils and the like may be used. As will be readily recognized, the depth of any pocket is adjustable simply by varying the overall length of the strip of material used to form the pocket. After a pocket member becomes soiled, or when it is desired to change the depth of the pocket, the pocket member then in use is simply removed and discarded and a new pocket formed of the desired depth.

In some instances, it might conceivably be desirable to have the plane of the aperture 15 horizontal, and in that instance, the structure described to this point would be, in itself, sufiicient to perform the desired function. However, I have found that the vertical position of aperture 15 is more desirable and it therefore becomes desirable, if not essential, that some means be provided for supporting the distal portions of pocket members 19 within cabinet 10. In the absence of such supporting means, the pockets would tend to assume a vertical position, piling up one upon the other. Therefore I have provided a further plurality of rods or bars 22.

Rods 22 are preferably substantially parallel, one with the other and with the rod pairs 16, and span the cabinet walls 11 and 12. Rods 22 are further arranged in series, rods 22a constituting a first series, rods 22b constituting a second series, etc., there being one such series for each rod pair 16. The rods of any one series all lie in a common plane including a rod pair 16.

In order to facilitate the placing in and withdrawing of forms from pockets 19, I prefer to arrange each rod series in a plane sloping inwardly and downwardly from the corresponding rod pair 16. Each series of rods 22 thus forms a supporting platform for a pocket 19 within cabinet it). Additionally, this angular'arrangement of the pockets is such as to leave the outer ends of the forms stored therein clearly visible and identifiable to one viewing the cabinet.

The use of pockets of flexible material has an added advantage in that, as will be observed by the length of pocket 19a (Fig. 2), much longer forms may be stored in the pockets than could be if the pocket material were non-flexible. The longer pockets merely curve downwardly at the rear of the cabinet and hang vertically adjacent the back panel 14.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a modified form of pocket supporting means. In place of the rods of Fig. 2, I have provided a plurality of pairs 23 of substantially contiguous partition elements 24 respectively parallel and spanning the side walls 11 and 12. Each such pair likewise defines a retention slit for an end of at least one pocket member 19. Here again, such partitions preferably slope inwardly and downwardly from the plane of aperture 15. The ends 20 and 21 of pocket members 19 are forced between the contiguous partition members 24 and are firmly and frictionally gripped therebetween.

Alternatively, the partition elements could take the form of slats or bars 25 and 26, as shown in Fig. 4, slats 25 being arranged in contiguous pairs 27 to define retention slits for frictional gripping of pocket ends 26 and 21, and slats 26 being arranged in series similar to the rod series 22a, 22b, and etc. of Fig. 2, for supporting pocket members 19 within cabinet 10.

A still further form is that shown in Fig. in whicL each partition element is a single piece of material 28 having a longitudinal slot or retention slit along the edge thereof, adjacent aperture 15, for the reception retention therein of pocket member ends 20 and 21.

I have limited the disclosure of my invention to the broad idea of replaceable, flexible pockets for a filing cabinet of the type herein under consideration and recognized that many means of supporting the ends of the pockets could be devised. For instance, in place of the slat pairs of Fig. 4, I might use a single slat with an elastic strand, such as a rubber band, a coiled spring, a leaf spring or the like tethered to one surface thereof, each of the turned-back ends of a pocket member being receivable between such a slat and its associated strand and being thereby anchored on said slat. I also recognize the fact that instead of removing and replacing a pocket to change its depth, it would be clearly feasible to mount the rods 17 of Fig. 2 for revolution about their axes to wind and store the excess length of the pocket strip thereon. I have not endeavored to illustrate such a mechanism, however, but intend that such obvious modifications and extensions of my broad idea be covered by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A filing cabinet comprising a pair of spaced, substantially parallel side walls, a plurality of substantially parallel pairs of bars arranged substantially in a common, substantially vertical plane and spanning said walls, the bars of each of said pairs of bars lying in longitudinal contiguity, and a plurality of flexible strips, each strip being turned back on itself with one of the ends thereof being inserted between the bars of one of said pairs of bars for frictional retention therebetween, and with the other of the ends thereof being inserted between the bars of an adjacent pair of bars for frictional retention therebetween, said strip thus forming a pocket between such adjacent pairs of bars, the depth of each of said pockets being universally adjustable by varying the degree of projection of either of said strip ends between its associated pair of bars.

2. A filing cabinet comprising a pair of vertically arranged, substantially parallel side walls, a plurality of horizontally extending, substantially parallel pairs of bars arranged substantially in a common, substantially vertical plane and spanning said walls near an edge thereof, the bars of each of said pairs lying in longitudinal contiguity, a plurality of flexible strips, each strip being turned back on itself with one end thereof inserted between the bars of one of said pairs of bars for frictional retention therebetween, and with the other end thereof inserted between the bars of an adjacent pair of bars for frictional retention therebetween, thus forming a pocket between such adjacent pairs of bars, and a plurality of series of substantially parallel, horizontally extending bars spanning said side walls, one series for each of said pair of bars, the bars of each series being spaced inwardly from its associated pair of bars to lie substantially in a single plane which slopes inwardly and downwardly from the vertical plane of said bar pairs, each of said series of bars forming a supporting platform for one of said pockets.

3. A filing cabinet comprising a pair of vertically arranged, substantially parallel side walls, a plurality of horizontally-extending, substantially parallel slats spanning said side walls substantially normal thereto and in a common vertical plane adjacent one edge of each of said side walls, said slats further being arranged in contiguous pairs with adjacent pairs defining mouths opening toward the plane of the named edges of said side walls, a plurality of series of substantially parallel slats spanning said side walls in parallel relation with the said pairs of slats and with one series for each such pair, the slats of each series being spaced inwardly from the said mouths and the plane of each said series sloping inwardly and downwardly from the plane of said mouths, and a plurality of strips of flexible material, each strip being folded back on itself and disposed between adjacent slat series to form pockets opening in the direction of said mouths, the ends of each strip being turned back and forced between the contiguous faces of the near pair of slats to be frictionally retained therebetween, each of said pockets further being variable in depth by varying the degree of projection of either of said strip ends between said contiguous slat faces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 674,069 Snively May 14, 1901 1,741,157 Hutchings Dec. 31, 1929 2,247,593 Weber July 1, 194-1 

